Gov. Rick Snyder: 'We need to grow the city of Detroit'; No word yet on emergency manager

DETROIT, MI – Gov. Rick Snyder said Thursday it will be at least another week before he decides whether or not to appoint an emergency manager.

Snyder in a Detroit media roundtable presented a series of charts illustrating decades of population decline in the city and displaying systemic problems with the city’s budgeting system.

“We need to grow the city of Detroit,” Snyder said. “That’s the long-term answer and it’s going to be really hard.”

The governor focused on deficiencies in Detroit government that he said have kept it from recovering, including outdated technology, a City Charter that delays restructuring and a budgeting system that consistently overestimates revenues.

“We have a system in place that doesn’t accurately come up with how much money we have to spend,” Snyder said.

“If you’re solving problems like this, you need to know what those problems are… There needs to be a much better system if these problems are really to be solved.”

After a financial review team this week officially reported a financial emergency in the city, Snyder could either appoint an emergency manager or implement a revised consent agreement for reform in the city.

He said he wants to discuss the issue further with Mayor Dave Bing before he makes a decision.

The governor declined to speak on what specific could be taken if an emergency manager is appointed, but said the measures would be focused on ways to bring people back into the city without reducing services in a manner that would cause current residents to move out.

“We’re talking about several hundred thousand people,” he said. “… The citizens of Detroit deserve better police protection. Ultimately, it needs to translate back into real people.”